cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47877442

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday travelled to Normandy to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings.

But after making a speech at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, he conspicuously skipped afternoon’s main international ceremony marking the anniversary of the Allied landings, which helped herald the end of World War II.

His presence was not missed by some residents of the village hosting the ceremony, Langrune-sur-Mer, who said the US official was not welcome there.

“He has very warlike views and it seems to us that this man does not share our democratic values,” Sylvie Lamy Thepaut, a member of the municipal association Langrune en commun, told BFM TV.

  • nkat2112@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    12·
    5 hours ago

    A message on the association’s website called for Hegseth’s visit to be cancelled on the grounds that the Pentagon chief “espouses values contrary to democracy, human rights and peace” and had made “numerous anti-European remarks”, “warlike statements” and “American supremacist pronouncements".

    “The honor of Langrune, that of France, and the memory of the young Allied soldiers – American, British, Canadian – who died on our beaches in the name of democracy would dictate canceling this individual’s visit,” the statement concluded.

    The good people of Langrune rock. Merci beaucoup!